Jobless European Migrants could be Deported from Britain

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Germany has guaranteed Britain will be protected from a more powerful eurozone as the two countries examine plans to kick out jobless migrants after three months.

David Cameron yesterday signalled his support for the idea to send migrants home if they fail to find work.

Now Berlin has offered a fresh boost to the Prime Minister?s plans to curb Brussels? influence after Germany said the UK must not be put at a disadvantage by eurozone nations' moves to integrate more closely.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has offered David Cameron fresh support for his plans to reform the Europe Union
Mr Cameron has promised that if he is Prime Minister after the next election he will claw back powers from the European Union before holding an in-out referendum.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is a key ally in any attempt to reshape the EU, and Downing Street is delighted at the lengths she will go to to ensure Britain remains in the bloc of 28 countries.

The Berlin Government released a report suggesting that new arrivals should be returned to their countries of origin within a few months.

German politicians have suggested the limit should be set at 3 months - though the document does not specify an exact deadline.

The UK has already restricted access to benefits for migrants until they have been in Britain for three months.
Mr Cameron said he would work with Berlin on plans to deport jobless migrants who fail to find work

Mr Cameron said he would work with Berlin on plans to deport jobless migrants who fail to find work

But the German plans would go further, giving member states the right to kick out those who are not working.

Mr Cameron said the proposals are proof that key European Union leaders are coming round to his view that there should be greater restrictions on free movement around the EU.

A major risk for Britain has been being squeezed out or over-ruled by countries which use the euro forming closer ties in an attempt to shore up the single currency.

But in a joint article for the Financial Times, Chancellor George Osborne and his German counterpart Wolfgang Schauble said any changes to EU treaties must ?guarantee fairness? for member states outside the single currency bloc.

The declaration meets one of Mr Cameron's key negotiating demands - that the rights of non-eurozone states must be protected - ahead of his planned 2017 referendum on Britain's membership of the EU.

In their article, Mr Osborne and Mr Schauble said that both Britain and Germany accepted that the eurozone crisis meant that the members of the single currency needed to establish a common fiscal and economic policy.

?The UK fully recognises the progress made so far in responding to the crisis, and it supports the case for further steps forward.

'But as the euro area continues to integrate, it is important that countries outside the euro area are not at a systematic disadvantage in the EU,? they wrote.

?So future EU reform and treaty change must include reform of the governance framework to put euro area integration on a sound legal basis, and guarantee fairness for those EU countries inside the single market but outside the single currency.?

The statement will be seen as evidence that Mr Cameron's assiduous efforts to court German chancellor Angela Merkel - including rolling out the red carpet for a high-profile visit to London - are bearing fruit.

Tackling immigration is a major concern in both countries, with Germany's coalition government considering proposals to limit the time unemployed migrants from other EU member states can stay in the country looking for a job.

Mr Cameron said that he would now seek to work with the Germans and other like minded allies to see if they could tighten EU rules further.

Mr Cameron told BBC Radio Derby: ?We are doing what the Germans are doing which is introduce new rules that you cannot immediately claim benefits if you come here and if you are a EU citizen and not looking for work and claiming benefits then you can be removed to your country of origin.

?We?ll look very closely if the Germans want to take this further. I talked to Angela Merkel personally last week and we are going to work with her, with the Swedish prime minister, with the Dutch Prime Minister on how we can tighten up in this area because it is worthwhile work.?
'As the euro area continues to integrate, it is important that countries outside the euro area are not at a systematic disadvantage in the EU'

George Osborne and Wolfgang Schauble

Mrs Merkel commissioned the report by a German government committee in January amid concern about the lifting of restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian migrants.

An interim version of the report published earlier this week also recommends that governments be allowed to prevent migrants expelled for committing fraud from returning to their countries - a restriction that currently does not exist.

A spokesman for the German Embassy in London said: ?The committee recommends the introduction of a time limitation on the right of residence for EU citizens seeking employment. EU citizens must provide evidence that their ongoing attempts to find a job have a prospect of success.

?The right of EU citizens to reside in Germany can already be stopped in case of fraud and abuse of rights, such as forging documents or wilful misrepresentation.

'However, there is at present no way to prevent the immediate re-entry of EU citizens who abuse their right of freedom of movement.

?Therefore, the committee proposes the introduction of temporary re-entry restrictions for cases of ?abuse of rights? and ?fraud?.? The final report is due to be published in June.

Downing Street sources said that they were also encouraged by suggestions from Germany that migrants should no longer be able to send child benefit to their children back home - a move that both Mr Cameron and Nick Clegg have also supported